I'm seeing people leave Facebook and I have so much respect for them for that.

I think I would struggle to leave because it's my favourite of the social media platforms. I find it a little safer-feeling than Twitter, and like how I can exclude some people in conversations (like family, for instance), whereas with Twitter I have to say whatever I say to everyone and with family and unknowns following me on there it's a great risk. I also really like how Facebook lets me keep in touch with people I might lose touch with otherwise - and I would be sorry to lose them, or to lose that level of communication with them. And it's great for events too.

I'm a little conflicted, because I've checked and Facebook doesn't seem to have that much data on me - unless my expectations are lowered because Google Ads seem to store far more information about a user's interests and personal elements. The one bit of info that Facebook had on me that REALLY didn't tally with my expectations was that I'd been categorised as someone with ex-pat friends or people living abroad. That made me uncomfortable because fascism. In the world of fascism, foreign is 'other', and 'other' is a threat. However, I don't know if it's the same for everyone, but I didn't see anything stored about my orientation or faith, which would also have raised warning flags.

In times of social change - like, say, if our home country gets web cencorship - it seems like there's little to stop the 'free' services we use every day from changing the rules in ways we haven't forseen. For example, Google set up a special Google China branch that was originally willing to comply with China's web censorship laws. I think that's the big concern for me - not how my data has been used, but how it might be used one day. I don't feel overly concerned about Facebook so far, but I do feel generally concerned about all large-scale digital platforms in the future. Does that make sense? I might just have my head in the sand because I enjoy things like Facebook. I don't want to sound ominous, it's just something I think about a bit.

When I saw the scandal and people leaving, I took the plunge and downloaded my data... only to not be surprised in the slightest by what I found. It's remembered everything, but having everything spread out in front of me didn't shock or upset me, and it wasn't something that bothered me much. The security of that data is potentially an issue (I once had a man contact me on online dating many years ago and try to blackmail me into a date with him because he had managed to hack into some of my personal online shopping data, and had also got some of my contacts, and apparently telling my mum that her adult daughter owns a vibrator is something that should strike fear into my heart. Who says romance is dead?), but the fact that is exists and is sold simply doesn't scare me. In many ways, I feel privacy is dead in an age of such integration with technology, or at least privacy is different to what it used to be. I think in the future more websites will offer safeguards allowing you greater ability to delete older data as a compromise for being able to sell current data- after all, what I felt about things and my rambles from over 10 years ago are simply not valuable to advertisers.

I have gone years, in my life, without using Facebook, but I have used it now fairly consistently since 2014. That said, my return to Facebook came in the wake of a relationship with a privacy-obsessed man, and a privacy scare where my online accounts were tracked by someone in my real life, and complied into a nasty blog to make fun of me. Some of you will probably remember this.

The data I downloaded from Facebook is deliciously deserted, as I have used it surprisingly little for the amount I use it, if that makes sense. However, that's not to say that it doesn't have more information on me. From my experience, it's awfully inconvenient to stay completely protected online, and at some point I made the decision to sacrifice my privacy for the ability to stay connected with people - for example, people from here, people that I've met at university, and so on.

I like Facebook because of the content people share on it. I like knowing about the mundane, everyday aspects of their life. My boyfriend, for example, lives in another country, and whilst Facebook isn't my primary means of communicating with him, I do enjoy seeing his antics, his social life, and how he spends some of his free time, beyond simply knowing what he tells me.

I also didn't use Facebook for a long while when I was 16 and 17, and I found that I was actually missing out on a lot of social life, because events were created on Facebook, and people would assume I'd seen the event and not otherwise invite me. Likewise, now, I find that, because my friends are reasonably spread-out, and because everyone is so used to Facebook events, I'd have missed out on a lot of events without having Facebook.

I, like Madga, am concerned about how my data might be used in times of social change, and, indeed, whom it might be used by. But, at the same time, with current information in mind, I enjoy Facebook too much to delete it, and I don't know that any viable alternative could be trusted.

I haven't downloaded my data so I have no idea what they have for me. I accepted that "free" services are never truly free so I try to be mindful of what I post and share. It's why I don't have my real surname on my Facebook account though I am sure since I have family linked I am still easily traceable should someone want to find me.

I have had limited access to the Internet this week and I didn't miss Facebook in the sense of missing what folk were doing but I am conscious of how many events and things I find out about through it. It also keeps me connected to all the wonderful Mooks so I don't think I will be deleting anytime soon.